Freedom

08/09/2017 9:20 PM |
Anonymous

The experience of AA is one that is powerful, life changing, and freeing.Before I joined AA I had spent many years drinking and about a month sober - but I was lost.I knew I shouldn't drink because I was an alcoholic, but I didn't know how to live my life as a sober person.I felt alone-wandering angrily through sobriety with a chip on my shoulder that I couldn't drink like everyone else in the world seemed to.

Enter AA.I met people like me.I started to open up and share my story.People told me that they learned things from what I said just as I had learned from them.I felt the power of a community of people who got what I was going through but pushed me to work a program that would get me out of my "why me?" mentality and into a fulfilling and satisfying life.

I worked the steps with a sponsor.I surrendered. I did my inventory.I shared my past and acknowledged my defects.I prayed to have them lifted.I made amends.I started to understand freedom in a way that I never understood it before.I had been living shackled in fear, shame, guilt, and sadness.But I gave it all up to my Higher Power and learned what it is for my soul to feel lighter ... and I learned how to "keep my side of the street clean."

Every day brings fresh challenges.I pray for guidance on the "next right thing" multiple times a day.And I get answers, believe it or not.They come relatively effortlessly... like a whisper of wisdom in my mind.

Freedom in surrender is a strange concept for some but to me it has come naturally.I surrender my will and my life to my Higher Power and find empowerment in the steps I take as a result.The next right thing.

I pray that those still struggling will know this freedom one day.I never knew it possible but I am living proof of the power of a program and community like AA.It has given me back my life.